Perfect Sugar Cookies

Last weekend Fuzz and her friends asked if they could bake cookies. It was about an hour before dinner and not exactly the best time to start a baking session, but the girls were so enthusiastic and eager that I caved in. That, plus I suddenly had an excuse to make The Perfect Sugar Cookies from Fine Cooking Magazine!

What I will say is that the cookies lived up to their name. The recipe gives you the option to make them chewy or crispy, and while I would have preferred crispy, the girls chose chewy so we went with that. In the end, all parties were pleased. While the corn syrup addition did make them chewy, they were still nice and crunchy around the edges. And finally, the dough was very easy to work with — not too sticky, not too dry. The girls are just learning the importance of making cookies a similar size and thickness, so having an easy to work with dough was important. My only complaint is that I sent all the cookies home with the girls and didn’t save enough for us!

By the way, I’ve been meaning to mention this but just haven’t gotten around to it. Lately, I’ve found that different brands of flour really do work better for different types of baked good. For crispy or sturdy cookies with some chomp to them, I buy King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose. Louise mentioned it had more protein, therefore more gluten, which may be why cookies made with King Arthur seem a little sturdier — not tough, just well structured. Since King Arthur is a little more expensive, I call it my “cookie flour” and use it exclusively for cookies. For bread flour, my favorite it our store brand which is called “Baker’s Scoop”. Gold Medal also makes good bread flour, but I’ve noticed Baker’s Scoop gives me really good results with leavened bread — tight crumbed and soft like commercial bread (but better). For all-around use, I almost always buy Gold Medal Unbleached All Purpose and for cakes, I use either Pillsbury’s Best or Gold Medal Bleached, which yields a softer cake.

Okay, I guess I should have titled this post “Best Types of Flour” but then you might have missed out on the sugar cookies, so I’m glad I didn’t.

Okay, but how do these compare to the “Secret Ingredient Sugar Cookies”? Because those are the best ones I’ve ever had. It’s like the best part of a sugar cookie meets the best part of a shortbread cookie.

I love sugar cookies too. And thank you for the information about the flour (I am a gold medal unbleached “flour” child.)
I use an old sugar cookie recipe my friend’s mom says she developed many years ago. In addition to the flour, butter, and egg she uses powdered sugar, vanilla, and a little bit of almond extract plus some cream of tartar and baking soda. They come out crispie because we always make them thin. The almond seems to add a little extra pizzazz.

BB, I’d say the chewy are actually in the middle depending on how long you bake them. The girls made some of their cookies kind of small and thin so there’s were chewy but still kind of crunchy around the edges due to *slight* overbaking.

Louise, I don’t know! Maybe the cookies from your childhood had some special flavoring…maybe a little lemon zest or extract that made them special? This is a good recipe to test. You can adjust the flavorings, of course.

Ronda, thanks! I’ve fixed the link so that it goes to the article by Nicole Reese plus both recipes.